By Bob Allen Southern Baptist author Jonathan Merritt admitted to a homosexual encounter in a blog interview July 26. Merritt, a culture writer for major newspapers and magazines and author of two books, told Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research that…
Historic DC church severs SBC ties
By Bob Allen A 150-year-old church in downtown Washington, D.C., voted July 25 to disassociate from the Southern Baptist Convention. The vote by Calvary Baptist Church followed a letter last February sent to the SBC president at the time, Bryant…
Chaplain at same-sex wedding leaving SBC
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist-endorsed Air Force chaplain portrayed recently in national media as watching approvingly the blessing of a same-sex civil union in the chapel he oversees informed officials at the SBC North American Mission Board July 19…
Race and intentionality, then and now
By Bill Leonard In his recent book Moses, Jesus and the Trickster in the Evangelical South, University of Colorado history professor Paul Harvey describes the South “as a land of paradox and contradiction.” “How else, for example, can one grasp…
Congressmen query end of military Bibles
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist congressman has called on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to investigate why the Pentagon revoked permission for LifeWay Christian Resources to use military insignias on Bibles it had been publishing. U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.)…
Group protests chaplain’s rebuke
By Bob Allen A chaplaincy organization supportive of last year’s repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military accused the Southern Baptist Convention of bullying and intimidation for asking an Air…
Possible Glorieta sale back on the table
By Bob Allen LifeWay Christian Resources may have a potential buyer for its cash-strapped Glorieta Conference Center after the Baptist Convention of New Mexico turned down an offer to purchase the property for $1. The Southern Baptist Convention publisher announced…
Possible Glorieta sale back on the table
By Bob Allen LifeWay Christian Resources may have a potential buyer for its cash-strapped Glorieta Conference Center after the Baptist Convention of New Mexico turned down an offer to purchase the property for $1. The Southern Baptist Convention publisher announced…
‘The Blind Side’ removal brings backlash
By Bob Allen LifeWay Christian Resources’ recent decision to no longer stock The Blind Side DVD on bookstore shelves has struck a nerve with Christian authors. Rachel Held Evans, who was asked by Thomas Nelson Publishers to remove the word…
Pastor blasts biblical inerrancy
By Bob Allen Biblical inerrancy – the idea that the Bible’s authors were safeguarded against error when inspired by God to write facts about science and history in Scripture – is a misleading and harmful concept that has been used…
Prof decries marginalization of Calvinists
By Bob Allen A seminary professor denounced the marginalization of Calvinists in the Southern Baptist Convention at a breakfast gathering during the recent SBC annual meeting in New Orleans. Speaking at the 2012 Founder’s Breakfast, Tom Nettles, professor of historical…
With ruling, contraceptive debate goes on
By Bob Allen Critics of the Obama administration’s requirement that faith-based employers include mandatory contraceptive coverage in their health-care plans for women voiced disappointment June 28 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld key portions of the Affordable Health Care Act…